The Harry Thaw Trials: A Chronology

On the day after White's murder, a crowd gathers outside prison holding Harry Thaw
1887
 Architect Stanford White, who would design Madison Square Garden and other city landmarks, joins other New York City libertines in starting the Sewer Club, a sex club.
Early December, 1900
 Evelyn Nesbit, age 15, arrives in New York City to begin a modeling career.
May 1901
 Nesbit takes a role as an actress in the play "Florodora."
August 1901
 Evelyn Nesbit is introduced to Stanford White, age 46.
October 1901
 White gets Nesbit drunk, she passes out, and Stanford deflowers her in his W. 24th Street studio.  Soon thereafter, and for about the next six months, White and Nesbit see each other almost daily.
December 23, 1901
 On Evelyn's birthday, White gives her a pearl necklace, three diamond rings, and a set of white fox furs.
January 1902
 The play "Florodora" closes and Nesbit gets a new role in "The Wild Rose."
Summer 1902
 With White in Europe, Nesbit has a brief affair with the actor John Barrymore.  After his return, White confronts Barrymore.  Meanwhile, Harry Thaw begins his pursuit of Nesbit.
October 1902
 Stanford White and Evelyn Nesbit end their affair, which famously included time spent by Evelyn on the red velvet swing in White's 24th Street apartment. White arranges for Nesbit to leave New York City to attend a boarding school in New Jersey, where she remains until April 1903, when she is treated for acute appendicitis.  
May 1903
 Nesbit and Thaw sail for Europe.  Nesbit's mother goes along as a chaperon.
Summer 1903
 In Paris, Nesbit tells Thaw about her wild sexual encounters with Stanford White and Thaw becomes enraged.
Late summer 1903
 In an Austrian castle, Thaw (in a cocaine or morphine-induced frenzy) slashes Nesbit with a riding crop, tears off her nightgown, and rapes her.
October 24, 1903
 Nesbit arrives back in New York, on ship passage arranged by friends in Europe who had heard her tale of Thaw's sadism..
Late Fall 1903
 After White's lawyers assist in bringing a suit against Thaw for kidnapping Nesbit, Evelyn (fearing Thaw's reaction) goes into hiding in New York City.  Meanwhile, Thaw's lawyers counterattack against White based on his earlier forced sexual encounter with the underage Nesbit.
1904
 While Thaw's white-hot hatred of White continues, he undertakes a relentless courtship of Nesbit.  Thaw insists that Evelyn refer to White only as "the Beast."
April 4, 1905
 Harry Thaw, a Pittsburgh millionaire, marries Evelyn Nesbit.  The newlyweds move into the Thaw mansion in Pittsburgh.
June 25, 1906
 Before hundreds of onlookers, Harry Thaw shoots and kills Stanford White during a performance of the play "Mamzelle Champagne" at the Roof Garden restaurant and theater at Madison Square Garden.
January 23, 1907
 Thaw's trial for murder opens.  The prosecution is lead by William T. Jerome, while Thaw's attorney is Michael Delmas.
February 4, 1907
 Opening statements are given in the Thaw trial.
February 7, 1907
 Evelyn Nesbit begins testifying in the Thaw trial.
April 11, 1907
 The jury announces that it is unable to reach a verdict in the Thaw trial.  Their are seven votes for guilty and five votes for not guilty by reason of insanity.
January 1908
 The second trial of Harry Thaw opens.
February 1, 1908
 The jury finds Harry Thaw not guilty by reason of insanity for the murder of Stanford White.  Thaw is sent to the Matteawan Asylum for the Criminally Insane in Fishkill, New York.
1915
 Evelyn and Harry Thaw divorce.  The next year, Nesbit marries dance partner Jack Clifford.
1917
 Thaw, while temporarily freed from asylums, is arrested after kidnapping and severely whipping a 19-year-old boy.  He is sent to an insane asylum in Pennsylvania, where he stays until his release in 1924.  Thaw dies in 1947.
1955
A movie, The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing, about Nesbit, White, and Thaw is released.  At the time of the movie's release, Nesbit is living a quiet life as a 74-year-old sculptor in Los Angeles.  The film stars Joan Collins as Nesbit.
1967
 Evelyn Nesbit dies of natural causes.

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